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The MPF Monitor

The MPF monitor is a graphical app that connects to a live running instance of MPF and shows the status of various devices. (LEDs, switches, ball locks, etc.) as well as a running list of recent MPF events. You can add a picture of your playfield and drag-and-drop devices to their proper locations so you can interact with your machine when you're not near your physical machine and/or for developing your game. MPF Monitor is also great when you have more than one person working on your MPF code but your physical machine is at one person's house. :)

The MPF Monitor can run on Windows, Mac, and Linux. It uses PyQt6 (Python bindings for Qt6) for its visual framework.

The current version of Monitor is 0.57.2, which works with MPF 0.57 and 0.80.

Here's a screen shot of it in action:

Note

The MPF Monitor is not a full pinball simulation with physics or moving balls or anything. But it does enough that you can use it to do real work on a machine when that machine is not nearby.

image

Video about developing your game without hardware:

Features

  • Connects to a live running instance of MPF, locally or remotely

  • Automatically discovers the pinball mechs and devices in the game.

  • Device state is updated in real time in the "Devices" window.

  • MPF events and their keyword arguments are posted in real time to "Events" window.

  • You can add a photo of your playfield and then drag-and-drop LEDs, lights, and switches from the device tree onto the playfield.

    • LEDs (circle icons) show their color in real time.
    • Lights (circle icons) show their brightness in real time between black and white.
    • Switches (square icons) show their state (green = active, black = inactive).
    • Other device types and custom shape choices are available

  • Left-click on a switch to "tap" it (activate & release). Right-click on a switch to "toggle" it (change its state and hold it).

  • Devices added to the playfield image are saved & restored when you restart the monitor.

  • Window sizes, positions, and which windows are open are remembered and restored on next use.

  • You can start the monitor and leave it running, and it will automatically connect (and disconnect/reconnect) to MPF as MPF starts and stops.

Next Steps

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